1. Fred Murree, known as Bright Star, was a Pawnee professional roller skater.
24 Facts About Fred Murree
1. 2.
Fred Murree has been called "the fastest man on wheels" of the early roller skating era.
3.
Fred Murree was born in a Pawnee village near Omaha, Nebraska, on October 7,1861.
4.
Fred Murree was 17 when he entered his first race, a five-mile competition in Boston.
5.
Fred Murree won the race in 15 minutes and 52 seconds, beating Skinner and cutting eight seconds from Skinner's previous record time.
6.
Fred Murree wrote that his previous rival Kenneth Skinner invented the first ball bearing skates in 1880 and gave Fred Murree the second pair produced.
7.
When he was 20, Fred Murree attempted to escape his contract with Clayton.
8.
Fred Murree returned to work when Clayton offered to pay him directly.
9.
The contract ended when Fred Murree was 21, and he began to compete in open races.
10.
Fred Murree skated at exhibitions in England, France, Italy, and Germany while skating was popular there, earning over ten thousand dollars.
11.
Fred Murree moved on to Argentina and Brazil when the popularity of skating spread to South America.
12.
Fred Murree met his wife, a British woman named Francis Alice Clews, at a roller rink in Boston.
13.
Fred Murree served in the First World War and returned to skating after his military service.
14.
Fred Murree's racing career ended when he was injured during a race in Reading, Pennsylvania.
15.
Fred Murree showed off his smooth balance by picking up objects with his teeth.
16.
Fred Murree wore a feathered headdress made by Chief White Horn, a self-claimed alias of Levi Levering.
17.
The public in the US and in Europe during the era of Fred Murree's career were fascinated by American Indians because of movies and popular stories.
18.
Fred Murree declined offers to take his skating onto the vaudeville stage.
19.
Fred Murree believed that his work should stay in roller rinks to be respected.
20.
Fred Murree managed roller skating rinks in various parts of the US.
21.
Fred Murree's last performances were in Detroit, which was a center of American roller skating following World War II.
22.
Fred Murree retired in 1948 after more than 60 years of prominence as a professional roller skater.
23.
Fred Murree was still receiving requests to book roller skating exhibitions, but he could not fulfill them because of arthritis and failing eyesight.
24.
Fred Murree died in 1950 and was buried at Beverly National Cemetery.